A Generation Of Class

I spent a good part of this past weekend attending the funeral of my wife's aunt. She had outlived her husband and most of her friends and had been in failing health for sometime. My wife and her brother were the only family she had left, so we expected a small private farewell. In fact, I expected no more than ten people to show up.

I was wrong.

I didn't count, but I would say that over fifty people passed through the funeral home doors. And they not only attended the wake, but they stayed for the funeral as well. Most of the people there were elderly, and many drove several hours just to be there.

This not only says a lot about my wife's aunt, but also for her generation. When my generation gets that old and feeble, I'm not sure if many of my peers would brave a long drive into a large city to pay their last respects, especially when they wouldn't even know any of the survivors. And I'm pretty sure that the generations after mine wouldn't even consider it.

She was part of a generation that had class. A generation that is quickly being replaced by a much more self-serving one. And when my age group becomes the next set to fill up the nursing homes, a different and lower standard will be set, for within the next twenty years the elderly of this country will be the generation that started the downward trend of putting "me" first.